Beyond Training: Health Habits That Elevate Athletic Performance

Introduction

There’s no doubt that training is an essential part of a distinguished athletic performance. However, in the hustle and bustle of training everyday, especially for longer periods of time, athletes can often neglect some significant health habits that actually elevate their athletic performance when done religiously.

In today’s blog, we’re going to go beyond the concept of athletic training and focus on approaching athletic performance from a holistic perspective.

6 Healthy Habits to Elevate Your Athletic Performance

Here are six healthy habits that you can practice beyond training to elevate your athletic performance:

Fuel Your Body Through Nutrition

Food is one of the most crucial factors in determining the composition of your body, your energy levels, your body’s ability to recover from injuries and ultimately, how fruitful your athletic performance will be. Being an athlete requires you to practice healthy, and balanced eating to meet the nutritional requirements of your body and maximize your athletic performance.

Here are three ways you can eat right and contribute to your athletic goals everyday:

• Add more complex carbohydrates in your daily diet. Since carbohydrates are the biggest source of energy and fuel your training sessions, complex carbohydrates like quinoa, oats, and legumes can help you sustain your energy levels and optimize your performance.
• Boost your recovery process by eating high protein foods after a strenuous workout and/or training episode. Lean proteins like tofu, and white meat can help in muscle building, repair and growth. Alternatively, seafood options like fresh Maine lobster tails, sardines, shrimp, and salmon can offer high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, selenium, and rich high protein for your heart health and muscles.
• Fats are an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet. Adding sources of unsaturated fats in your diet can not only offer you more energy, but also reduce your risk of heart-related diseases and inflammation. Olive oil, avocadoes, dark chocolates, chia seeds, nuts and fatty fish are great sources for obtaining healthy fats.

Practice Sleep Hygiene

Sleeping is very important for everyone, especially athletes that need time and energy to recover from their injuries and extreme training. When we sleep, our body goes in and out of four different phases, spread throughout the sleep cycle of 8 to 10 hours. The deep sleep state is one of the most important states that an athlete needs to be in for their body to recover well.

Let’s look at some of the best ways to practice sleep hygiene as an athlete:

• Follow your body’s natural circadian rhythms, and go to sleep when the sun starts to set. This will give you extra time to repair your body.
• Before a competition, prioritize sleeping an extra couple of hours to aid your body’s ability to repair itself, both internally and externally. It will keep you refreshed and energetic.
• Practice a healthy sleep routine to help you sleep more comfortably. This could include eating your last meal at least two hours before sleeping, limiting your screen time to one hour before bed, and sleeping in a dark, cool room to facilitate healthy production of melatonin.

Let Go of Unhealthy Habits

Being an athlete requires you to be in the best shape of your life, both physically and mentally. This requires a proactive approach to switching your unhealthy habits, be it drinking alcohol, consuming sugar, or smoking regularly to something that helps you grow. When you train your body not just in the sport you play, but also practice self-discipline in other areas of your life, you can contribute more wholeheartedly to your athletic performance.

If you’re currently guilty of any of the unhealthy habits mentioned above, here are some simple ways to let go off them:

• Bring smaller changes in your daily life and find ways to distance yourself from unhealthy habits by seeking out the help of a professional doctor or counselor.
• Focus on your physical appearance. The more you look for ways to enhance your appearance, be it by finding the best dentist and getting high-quality veneers, or getting facials or spas to relax your body, the easier it will be to let go of unhealthy habits.
• Set clear goals around quitting these unhealthy habits, minimize distractions, and reward yourself on achieving these goals. That’ll help you modify your behavior more permanently.

Hydrate Properly for Your Well-Being

Hydration is important for optimum well-being, and can contribute to your athletic performance by regulating your body temperature, improving joint flexibility, increasing your ability to concentrate, and even strengthening your endurance and power for you to succeed in your chosen sport and learn to build resilience.

If you often find that you’re dehydrated, it can have a negative impact on your athletic performance, even after rigorous training. Here are some simple ways to stay hydrated as an athlete:

• Aim to drink 20 ounces of water before you start with your first training session/ workout of the day. Moreover, drink 8 ounces of water every time you finish a workout or are warming up in between sessions.
• Always carry a water bottle with you. This will make it more accessible for you to drink water and reaching your daily hydration goals will be easier.
• If you find it difficult to drink water, focus on adding foods with high water content in your daily diet. This could include watermelon, cucumber, grapefruits, and cantaloupes.

Understand the Significance of Mental Health

As an athlete, the quality of your athletic performance has as much to do with your mental health, as it does with your physical health. Due to the high demand of their job profile, many athletes may suffer from burnout, anxiety, depression, or even an eating disorder at some point in their career. Knowing how to care for your mental health, when the stress of proving yourself and elevating your athletic performance increases can help you stay resilient in the face of adversity.

Follow these simple tips to care for your mental health as an athlete:

• Practicing gratitude and positive self-talk daily, and in situations that seem daunting can help shift your perspective from looking at training or even failures as something difficult to more of a learning opportunity.
• Building mental resilience by taking out time for meditation, even if it’s for only ten minutes can help you feel more grounded and relaxed. You can also practice mindfulness techniques while exercising, eating, and sleeping to rewire your brain for positivity and focus.
• If you want to reduce your stress and anxiety before a competition, visualize yourself achieving that goal. Make mental or physical diagrams of what success looks to you, and how your life will change after this win. This will help you mentally prepare for the challenge ahead. You can also ask for help, such as from a certified personal trainer, to streamline the process of caring for your physical and mental health.

Don’t Forget to Rest

While training is essential to elevate your athletic performance, it’s hard to go beyond a certain point without recovering your body through rest. Depending on your choice of sport and the injuries that you retain, you may need to find different ways of resting your body and mind, and need to prepare a plan of action for making the most of your rest time.

Here are some effective ways to practice rest in the most productive way as an athlete:

• For deep relaxation, practice hydrotherapy after your training session. This therapy involves being immersed in water, or floating above, which may directly help manage the symptoms of inflammation, immunity and muscle soreness.
• Alternatively, staying active by performing light activities instead of skipping training entirely can help in the recovery of muscles and may even reduce the pain that often accompanies you after a strenuous workout or training session.
• Photobiomodulation or light therapy is another, often used technique by athletes to recover their body from the training of the week. The light exposure activity is correlated with improved sleep, reduced inflammation, and more energy.

Final Thoughts

Training is an integral part of a successful athletic performance, but it needs to be supplemented with other healthy habits to elevate the impact of training in the long run. When athletes focus on making holistic choices about their physical and mental well-being by practicing healthy eating, sleeping, and hydration, and let go of unhealthy habits while also focusing on proper rest, their performance improves significantly and they’re able to attain their short and long term goals.